


A Good Lad

by TheonSugden



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Gen, M/M, Mentions of Rape, Mentions of Sexual Assault, Self-Harm, Self-Worth Issues, mentions of assisted suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-07
Updated: 2015-03-07
Packaged: 2018-03-16 19:36:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3500357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheonSugden/pseuds/TheonSugden
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aaron feels faint after a brutal run. He realizes his rescuer needs as much help as he does.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Good Lad

**Author's Note:**

> For those who don't watch the entire show - Alicia Metcalfe, a barmaid Aaron's mother Chas works with, was sexually assaulted. David is her husband.

After Jackson died, after Aaron put the glass to his mouth, he’d run so far and so fast, so fast everything was a blur. He’d never wanted to stop. Blurs can’t catch you, can’t make you remember you’re a murderer, that you’re as good as dead yourself, even if you live 100 years.

He stood at the same fence he’d been at with Adam that day, clung to it for dear life. Only now he was alone, by his own choice. He couldn’t have Adam asking him how he was or chattering on about footie and fitties. He had to be alone. He’d always been alone. It was better this way. It had to be.

He could barely walk back to the village, chest heavy, feet aching. The sun was setting and the sky looked blood red. He closed his eyes and still saw blood. Katie’s blood on the ground…Katie’s skin still warm against his while he cleaned up…

He didn’t even notice he was crumpling until he felt a man’s strong arms around him.

Some silly part of him hoped for Robert, but the stubble against his cheek said otherwise.

"You alright?"

He stared into David’s deep blue eyes, mouth full of cotton. He knew he should make some quip about being in David’s arms, ha ha he’s a gayer, but the most he could muster is a muted, “I’m fine.”

"You sound about as fine as I am," David said, clenching his teeth in pain as he looked at the heavy bandage on his hand.

"I-I’m sorry…’bout…" Aaron offered, hesitant to go on, as he remembered how much he’d hated people telling him how sorry they were for him.

"Yeah. We all are," David gritted, clucking his tongue. "Oh…Lisha said she really appreciated the food you and your mam sent over…"

Aaron nodded. “I know it doesn’t help…I know it just sits there…we just thought…I mean, Mam just thought…”

David clasped his shoulders, as if he were offering an apology.

"Helps more than ya think. She needs to know people know she isn’t…she didn’t…"

Aaron tried to stand back up now, David helping him.

"She’s a good person, David. Just like you."

David laughed mournfully.

"I’m sorry, Aaron. I just wish that were worth a damn."

That stung Aaron, for some reason. It had to matter.

"Bad people always pay, David. Other people make ‘em pay, or…they make themselves pay. It gets to ‘em. Wears ‘em down. Trust me."

David looked at his hand again, flexing it.

"Little shit doesn’t know how to feel. He’s gotta pay. One way or the other…"

He cried out in pain as the pressure opened the wound again. 

"We’re near the Woolie…we’ll clean it inside, alright?"

David offered a silent acceptance as they made their way to the kitchen through the back entrance. 

"I…I…" he hissed as he began fixing it up and putting on a fresh bandage, "I hit it on…just playing…"

Aaron knew that was a lie, and David seemed to realize quickly enough.

"Yeah, fine…I smashed it through a crate," he sighed. "Pretended it was Lachlan’s face. Felt so good…"

Without thinking, Aaron took David’s hand in his, squeezing it gently before finishing the dressing himself..

"Don’t worry, I’m not comin’ on to ya," he offered as a feeble joke.

David’s eye crinkles deepened as he allowed himself a genuine smile. “Believe me, I’ve had a helluva lot worse. I’m so lucky I found her. She’s better than ten o’me. If I’d been…”

His voice choked on the last few words.

"You weren’t…" Aaron replied, softly, his own voice broken, "but you are now. And that’s when she needs you most. Most fellas woulda run…woulda…woulda told her it was all her fault, what a bad person she was…"

Tears filled his eyes as he tried not to think of Robert, knowing it wasn’t the same, that Alicia was a victim, a good person, not a killer and a liar like him. Not a bad person.

"That’s why you gotta take care of yourself," he said as he put the finishing touches on. "It always feels good, at first. It’s pain you can control. But then…then it starts controllin’ you, ‘cos you ain’t got anything else."

He paused in memory of his own scars, of the cycle he knew he’d never break.

"Next time you wanna punch something, just come see me."

David’s eyes widened.

"Not to punch…I hope," Aaron added, forcing a smile. "I mean to talk. Least I can do."

David nodded again, genuinely grateful.

"You’re a good lad," he said, softly, kissing Aaron’s forehead the way he probably did one of his children, Aaron thought to himself. 

As the back door closed, Aaron caught his reflection in one of the ovens. Haunted. Lost. Guilty.

"A good lad," he repeated, bitterly, his feet aching before his next run. 

” _A good lad_.”


End file.
